Live as Saints Should LIve

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than we believed." (Romans 13:11) 

I love this scripture. It makes me believe that my salvation is so much closer than Satan would have me believe. What makes salvation close? What do I need to do to attain my salvation? 

I need to live a righteous life (Ezekiel 3:20). But what constitutes a righteous life? 
According to Doctrine and Covenants 14:7, a righteous life is one that shows an obedience to the Lord's Commandments and one that endures to the end. 

In Romans 12-13 Paul speaks a lot about the subject of salvation. 

In Romans 12:1, Paul tells us that we should sacrifice our bodies to give service to our fellow men. Obviously he is not saying that we should physically sacrifice our bodies on an alter. I think here he means that we should sacrifice our time to our fellow men. Go out and bring that family a meal because they are having a hard time. Shovel your neighbors driveway (Just because). Give freely of your time and resources to others! To me, that is a Christian attitude. 

In Romans 12:2 is a little harder to understand, at least for me (Going off of four hours of sleep…Yay for teething babies). Paul says, "And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." I believe what this is saying is that Saints must only allow the Will of God to influence their actions and spirit. Not the world. 

Romans 12:9 states that Saints must love sincerely, seek out good things and avoid that which is evil. Fairly obvious. But I love the fact that Paul took the time to say we must love sincerely, don't feign your love. Mean it! Christ means his love for us, just as we should love others. 

Romans 12:13 says that Saints should be hospitable, or welcoming to others. 

Romans 12:16 says that the Saints should be humble, unified with one another (and God) and be wary of becoming Prideful. The idea of the pride cycle is one of the many reasons I LOVE the Book of Mormon. It demonstrates the idea of the destructive nature of pride. 

Romans 12:21 is really interesting to me. It states that we should seek not only to overcome the evils of the world, but we need to seek to overcome the evils of the world with GOOD. I'm going to leave it at that. It is way to easy. 

Romans 13:1 says that we should allow ourselves to be subjected to God's ministry (The Priesthood). 

Romans 13:3 just expounds upon what Romans 13:1 teaches the power of the Priesthood and how it is connected to the Lord. 

Romans 13:8 speaks of debt. We should avoid debt! It makes life much more stressful (Student loans anyone?) Romans 13:8 also teaches that we should love one another because someone who loves as Christ loves is fulfilling the law. 

Romans 13:9 is interesting. It first lists the commandments given in the Old Testament but it tells us that all of these commandments can be placed under one umbrella and that is to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." It is just interesting to me. It seems like it is just repeating the previous verse. Loving as Christ loves fulfills all laws. 

All of these things that I listed are important but who can honestly say that they are doing  all of these things each and everyday? I would bet none of us can. It is important to remember this because so many times it becomes easy to judge us. Paul goes on to speak about this in Romans 14 and 15. He basically goes on to say that Heavenly Father is the judge not us. We belong to Heavenly Father and therefore he should be the judge of us. This is incredibly important to remember! In Doctrine and Covenants 38:25-27 we are taught that we should treat others as we want to be treated. I know that I would not want to be judged for my shortcomings by anyone else other than the Lord. 

Paul often referred to the members of the Church in this day is Saints. And I love this term. Saint is defined as someone who lives a life as exceptional holiness. When I first learned this I decided that I needed to work towards being worthy of this term. I don't think I have reached there yet but I am striving to do so each day.